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Cover Story - November 2009

Green in the Desert

Southern Nevada PushesSustainable Development

With two of CityCenter’s hotels receiving LEED gold, Smith Center pursuing silver and Nevada Solar One expanding, Southern Nevada has gone green.

By Tony Illia

Southern Nevada has several energy-efficient, eco-conscious building projects under way.

State legislation passed in 2005 offers incentives through tax cuts and other financial benefits to sustainable developments that achieve LEED certification.

It has since inspired projects such as the $8.5-billion CityCenter development on the Las Vegas Strip to pursue gold certification and the $245-million Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas to go for silver. Other legislation encouraging renewable power use and development helped spur a $3.1-million addition to Nevada Solar One near Boulder City.

To support recent legislation requiring up to 20% of Nevada’s power to come from a renewable resource by 2015, ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One underwent a $3.1-million addition. Photo courtesy ACCIONA

CityCenter, an 18-million-sq-ft complex of residential, hotel and entertainment space, sits on 67 acres between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts.

“From the beginning we believed that intelligent design and sustainable practices would reinforce a sense of permanence for CityCenter and create a healthier, more appealing environment for guests, residents and our workforce,” Bobby Baldwin, CityCenter president and CEO, says in a statement.

Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage Inc. and Infinity World Development, a unit of Dubai World, is the joint developer. Two CityCenter hotels – Aria and Vdara – recently received LEED gold ahead of the development’s December debut. Perini Building Co., a unit of Tutor Perini Corp., Framingham, Mass., is the general contractor.

The largest hotels to ever receive LEED gold certification, Aria and Vdara represent 70% of CityCenter’s square footage. Photo courtesy MGM Mirage

They’re the largest hotels to ever receive gold certification; together, they represent roughly 70% of CityCenter’s total square footage, say project officials.

“CityCenter’s pursuit of LEED is driving green economies of scale in multiple industry segments, paving the way for other entities to build and operate sustainably,” says Cindy Ortega, MGM Mirage’s senior vice president of energy and environmental services division.

Each hotel tower has energy-efficient exteriors that reduce sunlight heat transfer with air-brows, reflective rooftops, specially coated windows and high-performance glass. CityCenter also uses an 8.5-MW natural-gas co-generation plant that provides clean onsite electricity, while utilizing waste heat for warming water.

“CityCenter’s pursuit of LEED is driving green economies of scale in multiple industry segments, paving the way for other entities to build and operate sustainably.” Cindy Ortega, MGM Mirage

A conservation program reduces up to 43% of building water use through low-flow, pressurized fixtures. Drought-tolerant plants and trees cut outdoor landscaping watering by 60%. Slot-machine bases serve as under floor air-conditioning units, while construction recycling reused more than 260,000 tons of waste.

CityCenter isn’t alone. The 300,000-sq-ft Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which broke ground in May, is pursuing LEED silver. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, is the general contractor. The two-building complex, on 4.75 acres, is located at Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue, across from the World Market Center.

Designed by David M. Schwarz, Washington, D.C., the facility is anchored by a 2,050-seat proscenium theater with a 300-seat cabaret theater and stage facing a two-acre park. The project will use low-VOC glues, carpets and paints; energy-efficient windows; and natural lighting and materials. Construction waste will be recycled, and the building will contain high-efficiency mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

“There are no performing arts theaters [of this size] that are LEED certified, so we don’t have any reference materials,” says Matt Edwards, a project manager with the Projects Group of Fort Worth, which is serving as the owner’s representative. “But LEED was always in our mindset from day one.”

The Smith Center, which is scheduled to finish in 2012, is situated within the 61-acre master-planned Symphony Park, abrownfield, city-owned site that formerly served as a Union Pacific Railroad yard. All developments within the park must be LEED certified as per a city-mandated requirement.

Smith Center for the Performing Arts, located in Symphony Park, plays into the city-mandated requirement that all developments within the 61-acre brownfield site maintain LEED certification.

Southern Nevada is also a hotbed for solar power development. Las Vegas-based Tradewinds Construction, for example, earlier this year finished a $3.1-million addition to ACCIONA’s 2-year-old, 64-MW Nevada Solar One photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, 25 mi southeast of Las Vegas.

Assembly Bill 431 in 2003 and AB3 in 2005 require up to 20% of Nevada’s power to come from a renewable resource by 2015, with roughly 5% coming from solar power.

The 400-acre facility generates enough power for 48,000 homes, while reducing the carbon-dioxide emission equivalent of 20,000 cars annually. The power plant uses 190,000 curved parabolic mirrors that concentrate desert sunlight to 750° Fahrenheit to heat synthetic oil inside tubes that, in turn, create stream and drive turbines to produce electricity.